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A new atlas of Christian history has been needed for many years. Now, Fortress Press is pleased to offer the Atlas of Christian History from acclaimed author and editor Tim Dowley.

The Atlas of Christian History is built new from the ground up. Featuring more than fifty new maps, graphics, and timelines, the atlas is a necessary companion to any study of Christian history. Concise, helpful text, written by acknowledged authorities, guide the experience and interpret the visuals. Consciously written for students at any level, the volume is perfect for independent students, as well as those in structured courses.

The atlas is broken into five primary parts that correspond well to most major introductions to the topic. The final section on the modern era pays significant attention to the growth of Christianity as a global religion. Extensive maps are provided that illuminate Christianity in Asian, African, and Latin American contexts.

Reviews

I have been investigating the history of the early churches for some time now and i am so pleased that this has been added to the list of accordance resources as i really enjoy exploring it.

This volume gives an excellent overview of the spread of christianity from about 70 to 2000 ce and provides a summary of the major events and many key players in both text and maps. The text is very readable and provides a great snapshot of the events. However, the maps really bring the text to life helping you visualise events and are superb. They can be zoomed in on and look fantastic on an iPad (i havent tried projecting them yet but think they should look fantastic enlarged). The maps also contain more information than the text and the detail and cartography are really excellent. This and its sister volume really raise the bar for cartography. Just what an atlas should be with the focus clearly centred on the maps and the text and photos playing a supporting role.

This resource follows the ...

I have been investigating the history of the early churches for some time now and i am so pleased that this has been added to the list of accordance resources as i really enjoy exploring it.

This volume gives an excellent overview of the spread of christianity from about 70 to 2000 ce and provides a summary of the major events and many key players in both text and maps. The text is very readable and provides a great snapshot of the events. However, the maps really bring the text to life helping you visualise events and are superb. They can be zoomed in on and look fantastic on an iPad (i havent tried projecting them yet but think they should look fantastic enlarged). The maps also contain more information than the text and the detail and cartography are really excellent. This and its sister volume really raise the bar for cartography. Just what an atlas should be with the focus clearly centred on the maps and the text and photos playing a supporting role.

This resource follows the same format as the sister volume, 'atlas of european reformation', which is one page of text and a map. At 160 pages covering 2000 years, this volume can only provide an overview so there are a couple of maps before constantine, a couple for the councils, a couple for the great schism, and then three sections detailing spread to the different continents. The text is not strictly chonological but the information is usefully grouped. As a result, there is some skipping about, for example the fransicans are mentioned a few pages before a more detailed account of their formation. However there is a very detailed chronology set out at the back which is clearly laid out with an interesting Diversity of information up to 2015.

@ 160 pages, there are going to be omissions, such as the only mention of origen is of his death in 250 in the chronology (and i only found that because of the search functionality in accordance, i didnt find it when looking in the hard copy). It provides a good overview of the reforms prior to the reformation. Inevatably there are about 10 pages of text and maps that cover the same period though not to the same depth as its much more detailed sister atlas on the reformation. However, there is a 5th section picking up where the sister volume leaves off covering 1720 to the present day showing the missionary spread to all the continents.

I find these two atlases very useful as they provide a top level view of what was happening where so you can easily visualise what is occuring and put a name in context either to its geographical location or in its chronological location with other individuals.

Personally i think this volume majors on the western tradition and is a bit weak on the orthodox churches (though they are represented well initially, there are very few references after the great schism dealt with on page 68 till we get a map of russia on page 148 and then a map of eastern orthodox church on page 152.)

The texts are very easy reading and not indepth studies but the bibliographies give pointers to where you can go for more information. (Though i would be warey of just relying on the Diarmaid MacCulloch volumes and i couldnt see any from orthodox scholars listed.)

When not browsing through this over a morning coffee, i will be using it to provide an overview for the detailed resource i am using (particularly behr, young or stevenson revised by frend) and this is the essential companion volume to whatever i am reading as it gives me the context and the ability to stand back and quickly see the bigger picture and how it fits together. Plus its on my ipad and phone so is with me most of the time when im out rather than a paper copy left at home so i can explore other areas over a coffee or pint while waiting to meet someone.

I am very thankful for accordance for introducing me to these two resources which i was previously unaware of. While waiting for the history of christianity to be added to accordance, i finally spent time with the hard copy of both and was immediately struck by how much better the maps are in accordance where in the paper copies, the maps often are cut across by the binding which hides some of the information. This is particularly true in this volume where the majority of the maps cross the stitching.